Speedway tax relief racing through Legislature

Thursday

Feb 6, 2014 at 9:16 AMFeb 6, 2014 at 10:33 PM

By Chris Grahamchris.graham@news-jrnl.com

A bill that could extend up to $60 million in tax breaks to Daytona International Speedway continues to cruise through subcommittees as the 2014 Legislative session approaches.The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dorothy Hukill, a Port Orange Republican, would provide the Speedway with $2 million per year in sales tax rebates as the track undergoes an extensive overhaul of its frontstretch grandstands, a project better known as Daytona Rising.The measure passed unanimously Thursday morning in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Finance and Tax chaired by Hukill, who was absent from the meeting.“(International Speedway Corporation) has proven their commitment to Volusia County and the state by the years of community investment and involvement,” Hukill said in an emailed statement. “I’ve worked hard to see economic development increase and jobs created and that is what this bill does.”Hukill spokeswoman Lindsey Swindle said the bill has to make it through two more committees before it is presented to the Senate for a vote during the legislative session that begins March 4.The Daytona Rising project to renovate the frontstretch will feature special social areas and include 101,000 permanent and more comfortable seats, more restrooms and three times as many concession stands.The tax rebates that would come to the Speedway over the next 30 years would have to be used for future improvements and advertising of the facility and city. To receive the funds, the Speedway would need to invest at least $250 million in its project, which is slated to be complete by 2016 at an estimated cost of $400 million.A similar proposal last year died as lawmakers blocked requests to direct state sales-tax money into a number of stadium projects, including improvements for Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens and EverBank Field in Jacksonville, and construction of a soccer stadium in Orlando.